The Weekly Word: A faithful companion

By Rev. Isaac Johnson, Pastor, New Hope Lutheran Church, Charles City

There was once a woman who had a husband and two sons. Together, this family emigrated to a foreign country because there was a bad famine in their own land.

They were living happily when, sadly, the woman’s husband passed away. Her sons eventually married, though, and their family continued to grow. They had hope for the future.

But the happiness wasn’t to last. The woman’s two sons died within 10 years, so she was left entirely without her original family.

Haven’t you ever felt bereft? Maybe it hasn’t been as bad for you as it was for this woman, but then again, perhaps it has.

So it was just this woman and her two daughters-in-law. One of them left to rejoin her own family and hope for another marriage in the future, another family. The woman was happy for her former daughter-in-law, but she was sad for herself. Life had become bitter for her – and no wonder.

Yet all was not lost, not by a long shot. Though the woman urged her one remaining daughter-in-law to leave as well and find a new life, the daughter refused and swore to stay wither her bereft mother-in-law, speaking these beautiful words of commitment and companionship:

“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

This is the story of Naomi and her daughter-in-law, Ruth.

We have all had losses. Perhaps you feel that your losses are greater than you can bear, and life is bitter for you, as it was for Naomi.

Remember today that you have a companion even more faithful than Ruth, someone who will stick with you through thick and thin, and even death won’t scare Him away – the faithful companion, Jesus Christ.

Trust in Him, and He will never forsake you.

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You are warmly invited to Sunday Services at 9 a.m. at New Hope Lutheran Church, 607 N. Main St., Charles City, with Bible study and Sunday school to follow.